1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a facsimile apparatus having a relay broadcast distribution function.
2. Description of the Related Art
As communications technology progresses, facsimile machines equipped with an ever increasing variety of functions are being developed. One such function is a relay broadcast distribution function. A facsimile machine equipped with such a function may act as a relay broadcast distributing station (a child station), receiving document data (facsimile data) transmitted from a relay broadcast instructing station (the parent station), and delivering the document data to final distribution recipient facsimile machines (grandchild stations).
A facsimile machine provided with such a relay broadcast distribution function may return to the parent station a report indicating the result of the broadcast distributions (facsimile data delivery) to the grandchild stations (a xe2x80x9cbroadcast distribution result reportxe2x80x9d). In such case, the child station acquires a facsimile number of the parent station from a transmitter identification (typically the Transmitting Subscriber Identification, or the xe2x80x9cTSIxe2x80x9d) of the parent station, and sends the broadcast distribution result report to the parent station facsimile using this number.
In the case of data relay and transmission in Japan, the facsimile number carried by the TSI may be, for example, either xe2x80x9c+81-75-123-4567xe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9c075-123-4567xe2x80x9d. Even if the three character country code is specified, as in the former case, the CPU of the child facsimile machine is able to determine that the country code (+81) is for Japan because the relay facsimile machine is manufactured according to Japan standards. Thus, the child facsimile machine replaces the former facsimile number (+81-75-123-4567) with the latter facsimile number (075-123-4567), enabling automatic transmission of the broadcast distribution result report to the relay broadcast instructing station.
There may be a case where the first three characters indicate a country other than Japan, such as when the facsimile number contained in the TSI reads xe2x80x9c+01-1234-5678xe2x80x9d. In such case, the child facsimile machine is unable to use this number to automatically dial the parent machine residing in a country other than Japan, and thus cannot transmit the broadcast distribution result report back to the parent machine. In other words, the conventional relay facsimile machine cannot inform the parent facsimile machine of the result of relay transmission if the country code of the relay facsimile machine (referred to as xe2x80x9cmother country codexe2x80x9d hereinafter) is different from that of the parent facsimile machine (referred to as xe2x80x9cforeign country codexe2x80x9d).
It is an object of the present invention to provide a facsimile apparatus capable of transmitting a broadcast distribution result report back to the parent machine even when the parent machine""s facsimile number included in the TSI contains a foreign country code which is not the same as that of the facsimile apparatus.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a facsimile apparatus adapted to be used as a broadcast distributing station to relay facsimile data received from a relay broadcast instructing station to one or more final distribution recipient machines, including: a storage means for storing a transmitter identification received from a relay broadcast instructing station and a facsimile number corresponding to the transmitter identification, and a transmission means for dialing the facsimile number to transmit to the relay broadcast instructing station a broadcast distribution result report for the facsimile data distributed from the broadcast distributing station to the final distribution recipient machines.
The facsimile number of the relay broadcast instructing machine to which a broadcast distribution result report is to be sent can be found in the storage means of the facsimile apparatus based on the transmitter identification received from the relay broadcast instructing station. Upon successful data transmission, the facsimile apparatus, or child station, references a facsimile number data base in the storage means based on the TSI and finds out the facsimile number of the parent station. This number is subsequently dialed to send the broadcast distribution result report to the parent station. Thus, a broadcast distribution result report can be automatically transmitted to an appropriate facsimile number regardless of whether or not a code indicating a specific country is included in the TSI.
The facsimile apparatus may further include an indicating means for indicating the fact that there is no facsimile number stored in the storage means which corresponds to the transmitter identification when this is the case. As a user of the facsimile apparatus notices such indication, he or she will take appropriate measures.